SWIFT India adopts trade finance anti-fraud blockchain

Yesterday SWIFT India announced a partnership and pilot blockchain with MonetaGo. Earlier this year MonetaGo launched its anti-fraud blockchain with three major Indian trade finance networks that target micro and small businesses. A similar service will now be available to all Indian banks.

SWIFT India is a joint venture between the international SWIFT organization and India’s main banks. It aims to address domestic banking needs. Hence the new pilot will integrate the anti-fraud blockchain with Indian banks using standard SWIFT financial messages.

“SWIFT India is committed to provide significant value to the Indian financial community through digitisation of trade. MonetaGo’s expertise in providing fraud mitigation solutions to avoid double-financing and check authenticity of e-way Bill gave us the confidence to partner with them,” said Mr. Kiran Shetty, CEO of SWIFT India.

How it works

MonetaGo’s anti-fraud solution logs invoices and e-way bills which are used for the movement of goods. The blockchain stores an obfuscated representation of invoices and e-way bills. This enables other banks to confirm whether or not these items have already received trade finance. Hence it prevents fraud through double financing, but at the same time maintains privacy. Ledger Insights previously explored MonetaGo in depth.

“Given India’s focus on a digital infrastructure which is supported by both policy and technological innovation, it makes sense that large institutional players are interested in these products and initiatives,” said Jesse Chenard, CEO of MonetaGo. “This work is going to positively impact the information available to the banking industry at large.”

Last week a new trade finance consortium launched in Singapore with similar aims. The “World Blockchain Trade Consortium” uses Trade Finance Market’s Invoice Check technology. The solution also aims to prevent multiple financing for single invoices.

MonetaGo’s CEO Jesse Chenard will be speaking at the Hyperledger Global Forum which takes place in Basel, Switzerland on 12-15 December. Ledger Insights is a media partner, and this code will provide a 20% discount: HGF18LEDGER